Historic Tyler on Tour, 2007
Bergfeld-Talley-Negem-Mansour Home
Shawn & Erin Mansour
1419 S. Chilton
In 1924 Julius A. Bergfeld and his father Rudolf began developing a four block area from Shaw Street to Third Street. This area ran through the 125 acres used by the Tyler Confederate Gunworks during the Civil War. By 1932 J. A. Bergfeld had built a two story English Tudor Revival style home on the corner of Chilton and Third.
In the 1940s the Tooke family, who owned the local Tooke Dairy, lived in the home. By 1950 the home was vacant and sold by N. P. Powell to the Talley family. As the old Smith County Courthouse was being torn down in 1955, Dave Talley, who was a former mayor of Tyler, and his wife Doris purchased some of the azalea bushes that surrounded the courthouse and planted them at their home. Several of these original bushes still exist in the landscape of the home today.
Jim and Shirley Negem purchased the home from the Talley family in the early 1960s and lived in the house for over forty years, raising their five children there.
A Negem family story, featured in the Tyler Today Magazine in the spring of 2004, described one of the unusual features of the home as being the external mortar on the front of the house. If you examine it closely, you will see all the letters of the alphabet along with all the numbers.
Throughout the house many of the unique features from the 1930s have been kept in tact. All the hardwood floors are original, as well as, the fireplaces and mantels. Corner cabinets and the tile work in the bathrooms are as they were in the home in 1932. Arched pocket doors and French doors in the living areas have been reworked and restored by the present owners, the Mansours. Ironwork and the stairway banisters are original. Above the stairway and not far from its original location, iron grillwork from a former doorway has been hung on the wall. Even the rock fence surrounding the back of the property is still standing. Windows that crank open are original to the house and are in working order.
The current owners, Shawn and Erin Mansour, who purchased the home in 2004, have lovingly updated the home making it open and livable yet keeping the integrity of the home’s 1930s features.
This home, located one block south of the Brick Street District, has a connection with some of Tyler’s most prominent families.
